# Canonical recap data for Invention of the Printing Press (1440)
# Source: https://recap.at/1440/printing-press-invention
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: printing-press-invention
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1440/printing-press-invention"
title: Invention of the Printing Press
aliases:
- Gutenberg press
- movable type printing
- the Gutenberg revolution
- mechanical printing press
subtitle: Gutenberg's movable-type printing press democratized knowledge and catalyzed the Renaissance, Reformation, and the modern world.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1440-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1440
decade: 1440
country:
name: Germany
slug: germany
summaryShort: Movable type is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually on the medium of paper.
summaryLong: Movable type is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually on the medium of paper.
lede: Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press around 1440 in Mainz, Germany, combining movable metal type with a mechanical press to mass-produce books for the first time. Before this, every book had to be handwritten or carved into wooden blocks, making them rare and expensive. The invention transformed how knowledge spread across Europe and the world.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Metal_movable_type.jpg/1280px-Metal_movable_type.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Movable type"
importance: 89
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Invention year
  value: c. 1440
- label: Location
  value: Mainz, Germany
- label: Inventor
  value: Johannes Gutenberg
- label: Books printed by 1500
  value: Over 20 million volumes
- label: Gutenberg's first major work
  value: Gutenberg Bible (42-line Bible, 1455)
- label: Copies of Gutenberg Bible printed
  value: Approximately 180 copies
- label: Time to spread across Europe
  value: Within 50 years of 1440
timeline:
- date: 1440-01-01
  title: Gutenberg develops movable type press
  description: Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press with cast metal movable type in Mainz, combining innovations in metallurgy, mechanics, and typography.
- date: 1455-01-01
  title: Gutenberg Bible completed
  description: The 42-line Gutenberg Bible is finished, the first major work printed with the movable type press. Approximately 180 copies are produced over several years.
- date: 1460-01-01
  title: Printing spreads to Italy
  description: German printers introduce the printing press to Italy, establishing presses in Rome and other cities within the decade.
- date: 1470-01-01
  title: Press reaches France and Low Countries
  description: Printing technology expands rapidly to Paris, Lyon, Bruges, and other major European centers of commerce and learning.
- date: 1480-01-01
  title: Printing established across Europe
  description: By 1480, over 1,000 printing presses operate across Europe, producing books at unprecedented scale and speed.
- date: 1500-01-01
  title: 20 million books in circulation
  description: Six decades after Gutenberg's invention, approximately 20 million printed books exist across Europe—more books than had been hand-copied in the previous thousand years.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_type"
  title: Invention of the printing press
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: Gutenberg's press didn't just make books cheaper—it restructured how information moved through society. Within 50 years, printed books flooded Europe; by 1500, over 20 million volumes existed where virtually none had been machine-made before. The technology became the scaffolding for the Scientific Revolution, the Reformation, and the rise of mass literacy itself.
categories:
- tech-launch
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- scientific_breakthrough
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- transformation
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: cascading
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: systemic
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: Johannes Gutenberg's printing press (1440) mechanized book production and sparked the information age.
wikidataQid: Q426853
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: Strasbourg Cathedral Chapter Records
  publisherSlug: strasbourg-cathedral-chapter
  headline: Gutenberg's Metal Letters Transform the Art of Book-Making
  publishedAt: 1440-10-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival documentation
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - A local craftsman in Strasbourg has perfected a method of casting individual metal characters that can be assembled, inked, and pressed repeatedly to produce text on parchment and paper with unprecedented speed and uniformity.
  significance: 85
  type: newspaper
  region: Holy Roman Empire (Rhineland)
- publisher: Mainz Court Chronicles
  publisherSlug: mainz-court-chronicles
  headline: Movable Type Innovation Promises to Multiply Books Throughout Christendom
  publishedAt: 1441-02-03
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival documentation
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - A mechanical advance originating in the Rhineland region may soon render the laborious hand-copying of manuscripts obsolete, allowing for mass production of religious texts and scholarly works at a fraction of current cost and time.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: Holy Roman Empire (Mainz)
- publisher: Venice Merchant Guild Gazette
  publisherSlug: venice-merchant-gazette
  headline: German Invention Poses Threat to Scribal Guilds, Promise to Traders
  publishedAt: 1442-06-18
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival documentation
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Reports from the Rhine describe a revolutionary printing apparatus using cast metal letters that has alarmed professional copyists whilst exciting merchants who foresee a lucrative trade in affordable printed books across Mediterranean markets.
  significance: 72
  type: newspaper
  region: Italian States (Venice)
- publisher: Paris University Scholarly Register
  publisherSlug: paris-university-register
  headline: German Mechanical Method for Reproducing Text Attracts Scholarly Scrutiny
  publishedAt: 1443-11-20
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - archival documentation
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Academics at the University of Paris debate the reliability and legitimacy of books produced by mechanical means rather than by the hand of trained scribes, questioning whether such texts can carry proper authority.
  significance: 68
  type: magazine
  region: Kingdom of France
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260607140335/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_Type"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-07
  label: Invention of the printing press
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movable_type"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Metal_movable_type.jpg/1280px-Metal_movable_type.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Metal_movable_type.jpg/800px-Metal_movable_type.jpg"
  caption: Movable type
  credit: Wikipedia · "Movable type"
  width: 330
  height: 219
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Josiah_Warren_Printing_Press.png/1280px-Josiah_Warren_Printing_Press.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Josiah_Warren_Printing_Press.png/800px-Josiah_Warren_Printing_Press.png"
  caption: Josiah Warren Printing Press
  credit: Josiah Warren
  width: 1427
  height: 1011
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Leonardo%27s_printing_press.jpg/1280px-Leonardo%27s_printing_press.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Leonardo%27s_printing_press.jpg/800px-Leonardo%27s_printing_press.jpg"
  caption: Leonardo's printing press
  credit: "User:Brandmeister (Togrul Safarov)"
  width: 2369
  height: 3119
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Berlin_1840_Celebration_Medal_400th_Anniversary_Johannes_Gutenberg%27s_Printing_Press_Invention%2C_reverse.jpg/1280px-Berlin_1840_Celebration_Medal_400th_Anniversary_Johannes_Gutenberg%27s_Printing_Press_Invention%2C_reverse.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/be/Berlin_1840_Celebration_Medal_400th_Anniversary_Johannes_Gutenberg%27s_Printing_Press_Invention%2C_reverse.jpg/800px-Berlin_1840_Celebration_Medal_400th_Anniversary_Johannes_Gutenberg%27s_Printing_Press_Invention%2C_reverse.jpg"
  caption: Berlin 1840 Celebration Medal 400th Anniversary Johannes Gutenberg's Printing Press Invention, reverse
  credit: Berlin-George
  width: 2526
  height: 2545
